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I know I promised you all pieorgies but I just couldn’t find the time to make such a labor-intensive dish this past week with finals right around the corner. Sorry! I think that will be the first thing I make after I return home to Hawaii. (I’ll explain why I’m going to wait towards the end of this post.) But I did have time to make galbijim, which is basically a Korean version of beef bourguignon.

So much meat you can't find the bone...

First things first, the meat. I used a different cut of short ribs since I didn’t have time to go to the Korean supermarket. Notice how there’s so much meat you feel like you’re playing “Find the Rib!”?

Again, look at all that meat!

In the recipe I used they didn’t cut the meat, but I did to increase the surface area. More surface area means more opportunity for flavor infusion! Now for those of you who are getting giddy because I mentioned “surface area” you can geek out now. I did. Also, as a side note, cut the meat with an actual chef’s knife and not a steak knife. It’ll be easier than what I went through, I swear.

This is what it SHOULD look like after you pre-boil it!

Don’t skip this part! And don’t just stick the meat in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Leave it in there for 5-10 minutes! Otherwise you’ll have tons of cooked blood, fat, and other disgusting gunk floating at the top of your galbijim. No one wants to see that or eat that.

Shiitake, carrots, onions, garlic, and FLAVOR SAUCE!

Okay, it’s not flavor sauce, but it’s fun to say.

Time to start salivating…

Dump everything into the pot and set that timer!

After 2.5 hours of cooking!

Once the meat starts falling off the bone, kill the heat, and ladle some (or a lot) onto a hot bowl of rice. Now that looks like a fitting meal for these cold winter months, right?

Although the thicker cut of short ribs produced a better meat to bones ratio, it did have its shortcomings. First, it took way longer to cook; and second, it wasn’t as strongly infused with flavor as I would’ve hoped. If you choose to use this cut of ribs, I’d recommend marinating it in the sauce along with the veggies.

Soak the shiitake mushrooms in warm water for about 4-6 hours. Soak short ribs in cold water for at least 30 minutes and change the water a few times (this is to get rid of bone chips and other debris). Boil water in a large pot. Add the short ribs. Boil for 5-10 minutes. Remove the short ribs and wash them with cold water to remove fat or floating bubbles. Clean the pot and set back onto stove. Place the clean beef short ribs in the pot.

Prepare a bowl of seasoned water by mixing the water, soy sauce, garlic, onion, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, rice wine, and brown sugar. Add it to the pot. Boil over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Simmer on low for 1 hour or as long as needed for the meat to fully cook. Use your chopstick to check the tenderness of the meat. If it goes in smoothly, then the meat is tender enough. Add the potatoes.

Once the potatoes are cooked, add the honey, sesame oil, and black pepper. Turn heat to high and mix well until liquid evaporates. Once the liquid has evaporated it’s ready to serve!

EDIT: I forgot to mention why I’m not going to post any other cooking posts until later (yes, I’m going to continue the blog)! It’s because my house is a pig stein. That’s why the pictures were carefully framed…I had literally no space to cook. Thanks housemates.